


You Will Like Me

by GigglyPJH



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: 2park, But Jihoon doesn't like anyone, College AU, Daniel is a barista, Daniel isn't in college, Drinking and other college stuff, Everyone is kinda mean, Everyone likes Jihoon, Fluff and Humor, Jihoon and Woojin don't actually hate each other, Lots of Dorm Jihoon, M/M, Minor Kang Daniel/Ong Seongwoo, angst eventually, jihoon is a mess, winkniel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-04 12:52:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12771477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GigglyPJH/pseuds/GigglyPJH
Summary: Jihoon just wants to get through the year. Woojin just wants Jihoon to have fun. Daniel just wants to get that face out of his head.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been one week and Jihoon was already done with Park Woojin. 

 

Ugh. Even the thought of his name mad his head hurt. How could someone with such a nice smile be the human incarnation of the devil? How could someone how was so outgoing and caring to everyone he met be the world's worst person? How was Jihoon the one stuck with him? 

 

Jihoon had tried to be nice to him all week, but after waking up to find the box of his favorite cereal empty, he snapped. 

 

That was it, he was done with Park Woojin and his antics. He was done sharing a room with the world’s messiest, and most miserable person. He was done with pretending they were friends when in reality he could barely stand having a conversation with him. He was going to tell Woojin exactly what he thought of him, and then march down the RA and demand to switch rooms. 

 

Before he could begin to speak, Woojin got up and left to go the bathroom. 

 

Jihoon was shocked at how normal he seemed. He hadn’t said a word, just got up like every other morning and went to use the bathroom.

 

The night before Jihoon had assumed Woojin went to a party. He hadn’t asked Jihoon to go, but it didn’t matter because he had been busy working on his first project in the library anyway. Jihoon decided to put extra effort into his research, making his first assignment perfect and giving his professor a good first impression. When he returned to the dorm at about 1 am, Woojin was already asleep. 

 

Jihoon went through the possibilities of what had happened, but every situation had the same outcome. Whether he meant to or not, Park Woojin had eaten his cereal, something he was specifically not to eat.

 

It may seem like an exaggeration, but Jihoon has specifically told Woojin when the met that they could share all their food- except his cereal. He needed the cereal to go through the day and without it, his day was ruined. He had eaten this specific brand of cereal for his entire life, through every struggle he went through he made a point of eating a bowl every morning. Then Woojin came and ate all of it. 

 

When Woojin returned, Jihoon confronted him. Woojin explained that it was an accident, he felt really sorry and promised to buy him new cereal. A caring smile never left his face, although he was sure Woojin thought he was crazy for freaking out because his cereal was gone. Jihoon almost felt bad for getting so upset, Woojin hadn’t done it with an evil intent. 

 

After Woojin continued to insistently apologize for 15 minutes, Jihoon cracked his cold expression and smiled. He hated it, no matter how upset Woojin made him he could never retain this anger for long. There was something about Woojin’s personality which prevented Jihoon from really hating him. 

 

“See, you’re not mad anymore Park Jihoon. You don’t hate me.”

 

Woojin was right, Jihoon didn’t hate him. Woojin was always so fun, smiley, and spontaneous. His aura was full of confidence, yet he was very nice and relatable. Being with Woojin made Jihoon forget about everything and just want to have fun. Jihoon would never admit it, but being roommates with Woojin was starting to make up for the past 18 years of his life, which had really sucked. 

 

“Fine. I don’t hate you, but I still don’t like you.” 

 

Lies. 

  
  
  
  
  


Jihoon didn’t have any classes until the afternoon and after sitting alone in his dorm for several hours studying he felt he deserved a break. He walked down the hall to see if any of his floormates wanted to go somewhere, but nobody was there. For the first time since he arrived at college, he was completely alone and free to do whatever he wanted. 

 

Jihoon had always been an independent person. In school, he kept only a few close friends because he always had so many walls up. Sure, he had always been fairly popular, but he had let very few people know his real self. Since he transferred schools halfway through middle school, his best friend, Jinyoung, had stuck with him and he seldom let any other people completely into his life. Going to school here made him feel isolated because there was no one he could completely trust. He felt alone. 

 

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and realized he had been standing in the middle of the hallway and was crying.  He quickly brushed the tears away from his face and hurried down the stairs. Outside he just kept walking. He was not going to be caught crying in the hallway one week into college because he felt lonely. He wasn’t that pathetic. 

 

Jihoon wandered around the campus keeping his head down to avoid bumping into someone he knew. He didn’t have his coat or wallet, he had only brought his phone and the 3$ shoved in his phone case. He felt naked and exposed, and completely alone.

 

After wandering around he regained his senses. He wanted to talk to someone. No, he needed to talk to someone. He needed someone to just sit and listen as Jihoon spat out every thought that was going through his head. When he was a child his mother would always listen to Jihoon talk about his day, Jinyoung had always been there to help him sort out his life. But, now there was nobody here. He was lost in a sea of people he didn’t know and didn’t know what to do. 

 

Woojin. Actually, there was one person he could talk to. He and Woojin had gotten to know each other a lot in their first week, and even if they didn’t always get along, he was Jihoon’s closest thing to a best friend right now. He wanted to find Woojin, but he was in class so Jihoon would have to wait for him to get out. 

 

His eyes settled on a coffee shop across the street. A warm cup of coffee. That’s what Jihoon needed. He would go get some coffee, calm down, and then go find Woojin. He made his way over to the shop, walked through the door, and his senses were filled with the warm scent of coffee. 

  
  
  
  
  


Halfway through his first lecture, Woojin began to feel the effects of last night. He had gone to his friend Daehwi’s dorm and they drank for a while. It had been terribly boring. Daehwi and his roommate Guanlin were nice and there were a few other people there, but it felt so forced. Woojin had wanted Jihoon to come, but Jihoon seemed to be very invested in whatever work he was doing. So, to make the night more interesting he downed shots. Now, he regretted it. 

 

Woojin had never been the type to get totally wasted at parties. He much rather preferred to be smoking, than drinking until he threw up anyway. But, Daehwi said no smoking in his room when Woojin asked. Eyeroll. So, now he was sitting in his lecture trying not to get sick all over the person in front of him. He blamed Jihoon for throwing a fit in the morning causing him to forget to hydrate and take some medicine. 

 

The girl sitting next to him must have noticed because she kept glancing over at him with a worried expression. Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to talk to her. 

 

“Hey, can I copy your notes after this?” 

 

He smiled weakly at the girl. Luckily the girl just nodded and whispered yes. He mouthed thank you to her and tried to focus on the lecture. 

 

Unfortunately, 5 minutes later he was vomiting in the bathroom, praying that nobody walked in. This was all Jihoon's fault, if he was so fucking obnoxious Woojin would not be sitting on the floor of the bathroom instead of attending his class. 

 

An hour later the lecture ended and Woojin was feeling better. As he packed his bag, the girl came up to him. 

 

“Wow, getting fucked up even though you had an early morning lecture.” She handed him her notebook. “I’m Somi.” 

 

Woojin was a bit taken back by her. All he did was ask her for her notes, and he wasn't in a mood to talk to her. All he wanted to do was go back to his dorm as quickly as he could. 

 

“I’m Woojin, and that may or may not be a habit of mine.” 

 

He got his phone out and took a picture of her notes. When he handed it back to her she didn't look amused. 

 

“I hope you realize I'm not doing this again. Grow up and learn how to take things seriously.” 

 

Then she turned and walked away. Woojin was shocked at her accusations. It came out of nowhere and he really didn't want to have to face any more people like her for the rest of the day. Woojin brushed it off and walked out of the lecture hall back to his dorm. 

 

On his walk, he couldn’t wait to tell Jihoon all about the encounter. He knew Jihoon would mock him, but at least it would out Jihoon in a better mood than he was in the morning. But first, he needed to buy Jihoon new cereal. 

  
  
  
  


“Jihoon, I got your fucking cereal!” 

 

Woojin walked into the room to find it empty. Jihoon had clearly been studying because his laptop was still open. It was kind of weird, Jihoon was usually studying when he wasn’t in class or with Woojin. Sure, he would talk to other people, but Woojin didn’t think he would have left on his own to make friends. 

 

When Woojin and Jihoon talked for the first time over the summer, Woojin could already tell he liked him. Jihoon was casual and sarcastic, he was great at texting, and he had a really pretty face. Everything about Jihoon seemed perfect and even if Jihoon didn’t like him back, he still wanted to be friends with him throughout the year. 

 

The person Woojin met in when he arrived was very different. Jihoon was always stressed about something, constantly working, mean, and very bratty. Woojin immediately found it a huge turn off and decided to abandon his original optimism and just get through the year. To counter Jihoon's annoying personality Woojin decided he was going to fix him. He was going to force Jihoon to relax, he was going to teach Jihoon how to have fun, and he was going make Jihoon like him. 

 

The first week had already proved to be a harder than he expected. Having to deal with Jihoon’s constant worrying was testing Woojin’s patience. Constantly accommodating his life to Jihoon’s never ending needs was near impossible. Putting up with Jihoon’s harsh word was infuriating, especially because he couldn’t argue back. He considered giving up and asking the RA to change rooms, but that would be like defeat, and Park Woojin was not one to give up easily. 

 

Instead, he made a plan to torture Jihoon in as many ways as possible until he gave up and lived his life more. Woojin would constantly bring Jihoon to parties, which Jihoon seemed to actually enjoy. Woojin tested his personal boundaries (like eating his cereal) just to see how he would react and force him to express his real feelings. He even tried to flirt with Jihoon, but Jihoon just brushed it off. Woojin didn’t understand, he had never met a person who was so self absorbed and reserved. Yet, this one boy was driving him insane and no matter what he did Jihoon didn't care. 

 

He sat down on his bed, resting his head on the wall behind him. He wondered why Jihoon, there were so many other people in the world, yet he was stuck on the one who didn’t care about him at all. He knew that Jihoon only thought of him as his obnoxious roommate, and maybe sometimes a friend. But, there was something about Jihoon that made him so intrigued and he needed to feel validated. 

 

It didn’t take Woojin long to figure out that Jihoon had been through some shit in his life. When they first started to talk over the summer, after stalking Jihoon’s Instagram, he came to the conclusion that Jihoon had about 2 friends. It didn’t really make sense to Woojin because Jihoon would get hundreds of likes and had thousands of followers, and was attractive enough for at least 3 friends. Jihoon could also be really irritable about random things, like cereal, and when Woojin would push for an explanation Jihoon would lose his temper and yell at Woojin. The yelling was the worst thing about Jihoon. Woojin realized after the second time, that there was nothing scarier in the entire world than Jihoon when he was mad. 

 

Woojin thought that if he could just get Jihoon to trust him everything would work out. But, it was impossible to fix something when he didn’t know what was wrong. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Daniel, can you work an extra shift for me?” 

 

His boss had asked him to work an extra shift today, and 4 hours into the day he already wanted to die. Usually, he didn’t mind working, but today almost no one was coming in. The coffee shop was nearly empty, even though at 1 o’clock it was usually full of students. 

 

The students were the reason Daniel liked working here. No, that sounds creepy. Daniel would be a student here if he hadn't dropped out halfway through his freshman year. For the past 2 years, Daniel had been working in this cafe and he wasn’t planning on quitting anytime soon. 

 

Most people would consider Daniel a failure. He wasn’t smart or athletic, he had dropped out of college after 4 months, and at the age of 21, he was perfectly content working a part time job and living at his best friend's apartment. Daniel disagreed, his life was fine, and after all college wasn't for everyone. 

 

Daniel was fidgeting with the cash register when the bell on the door rang. He looked up to see one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen walking through the door. He had a perfect, cute face and the most dazzling eyes. His pink sweatshirt suited his skin tone perfectly, and his blond hair made him look like a prince. 

 

Daniel smiled at him and waved him over to the cash register. The boy, who was definitely a new freshman, glanced at him nervously before returning a small smile. Daniel watched as the boy slowly took a few steps towards Daniel while reading the board. When the boy came closer Daniel realized there was a distraught and upset look in his eyes. It made Daniel wonder what was wrong and how anyone could do something to hurt someone who looked like the boy did. 

 

“Hi, Do you know what you would like to order?” 

 

Daniel wanted the boy to stop looking so tense, but his question seemed to make the boy panic. 

 

“Ah… I don’t know…” He glanced back up at the board with a worried expression. “I ah, only have 3 dollars… I ah, forgot my money in my room…” 

 

The boy focused on the ground letting his words drop to a whisper. Daniel felt bad for him. This was certainly not a cheap coffee shop, it was a hipster place for college students that specialized in all organic ingredients and latte art. With only 3 dollars, there was almost nothing on the menu the pretty boy could buy. 

 

“Oh, it’s ok. What do you want, it can be on me?” 

 

The words tumble out of his mouth before he could think of their consequences. Why did Daniel say that, did he want to lose his job? Employees were specifically not allowed to give away any coffee and only allowed one beverage per shift, which Daniel had already had. Now, he was going to have to pay with his own money. But, the expression on the boy's faces made him feel instantly better. A small smile appeared on the boys lips, and the only thing Daniel could think was  _ pretty boy, pretty boy _ . 

 

“Really? You’d do that for me? Thank you!” The boy's mood brightened, which Daniel smile. “You have no idea how much better that would make my whole day.” 

 

Daniel couldn’t speak, so he just smiled and nodded at the boy. The boy's smiles played on repeat in his mind, and the only thing he could think of was ways to make it reappear. While making the drink, after getting control of his emotions, he decided to talk to the pretty boy. 

 

“So, why did someone like you end up coming in here with only 3 dollars?” 

 

“Ah… Well, it’s kind of a long story” The pretty boy looked almost embarrassed that Daniel had even tried to talk to him. It was cute. 

 

“Well, I’ve got half an hour until my shift ends, so explain away.” 

 

Pretty boy continued to talk for the rest of his shift, but Daniel wasn’t really listening. It was impossible to focus when the boy was looking directly at him. His shining eyes were so captivating that Daniel felt like he was drowning in them. The way he would get animated when he explained things was endearing. He noticed how tightly the boy would grip the cup every time he took a sip. The boy’s smile never left his face and Daniel could tell he was very passionate about whatever he was talking about. Eventually, the boy stopped talking and shrugged. 

 

“So, yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m sorry, that probably bored you and I just shared my life story, which you probably don't care about at all.” 

 

“No, it’s fine. It’s not like I had anything better to do.” Daniel motioned to the now almost empty cafe. “Anyways, my shift’s over now and you made it go a lot faster. So thank you.” 

 

This was very true. It was now 2:15 and Daniel had worked overtime while listening to the pretty boy speak. 

 

“Oh. Good. Well, what do you think?” 

 

Shit. The pretty boy just asked him a question and he had no idea what to say. He couldn’t be honest and say he wasn’t listening, that would be rude. He needed to make the pretty boy like him, so he would have to lie. 

 

“Well… um” Daniel motioned towards him trying to waste time by asking for his name. 

 

“Jihoon” 

 

“Yeah, Jihoon. I think…” Remember something, please. He searched his brain for anything the boy had said. Woojin. Pretty boy had definitely said this name multiple times. Woojin was probably his friend, yeah that makes sense, and they were in a fight or something. “I think you should be nicer to Woojin, and try doing what he wants more.” 

 

Pretty boy contemplated what Daniel said and seemed to agree. Thank god. “You’re right. I should try to be his friends more, that way he will get bored of me and leave me alone.” 

 

Daniel felt satisfied that he had helped and pretty boy had bought it. No, not pretty boy, Jihoon, as they were on first name basis now. However, before Daniel could reply, Jihoon let out a yelp while checking his phone.

 

“Daniel I’m sorry I have to go, but it was nice meeting you!” Jihoon turned and hurried out the door. 

 

First, Daniel was shocked that Jihoon had paid enough attention to have read his name tag. Then, he was shocked by the sudden disappearance of the boy who just sat and talked to him for almost an hour. Their conversation echoed through Daniel’s head. Now, that Jihoon had left the cafe felt empty, and Daniel was certain he was going to have to see this pretty boy again.


	2. Chapter 2

Jihoon knew that Woojin was a terrible person, but he hadn’t realized how horrible woojin could be. But now, as he sat on the floor of their dorm listening to Woojin facetime Daehwi, so he could come over so they could both shame Jihoon, he finally realized. 

 

Sure, Jihoon had been a complete idiot and rambled on to some guy he barely knew at a random cafe. And yes, this had caused Jihoon to be 20 minutes late to his class, which naturally had to be the one class he shared with Woojin. And of course, he had forgotten all of his materials, his bag, and his laptop, leaving him no choice but to borrow from Woojin. Jihoon admits that it was not one his best days, but that doesn’t give a monster, like Park Woojin, the right to mock him for hours on end. 

 

During class, Woojin had been more concerned about why Jihoon late and so scattered. However, once Jihoon told him what happened, the teasing hadn’t stopped. Now, Jihoon just wanted to crawl under his covers and request a room change because he wasn’t ever going to live this down. 

 

The door opened and loud “Park Jihoon!” flooded the room. The sound of Daehwi’s piercing voice adding to Jihoon’s growing headache. He laid down on the floor knowing that if he reacted this was only going to get worse. 

 

Surprisingly, this actually worked and after about 10 minutes of not responding, Woojin and Daehwi gave up and began shit talking someone from down the hall. They were like children, always looking for a new toy to mess with. Jihoon couldn’t believe that they were the closest “friends” he had in the entire school. 

 

Jihoon remained quite trying to not get his friends attention. But, he got bored and rolled over and took out his phone. He was surprised to see his new messages. 

 

**Baebae** : 

hey

**Baebae** : 

so….

**Baebae** : 

im coming this weekend 

**Baebae** : 

yeah, im really sorry i forgot to tell you earlier i was just busy i guess forgot but im gonna come this weekend

**Baebae** :

i know your probs gonna hate me now but i promise it will be fun

 

Jihoon couldn’t believe what he was reading. His already terrible day, had just become even worse. Jihoon didn’t think it was possible, but his day had just become, without a doubt, the worst day of his entire life. 

 

Why did Bae Jinyoung, his best friend since they were 11, have to do that. He was not welcome here. He was not wanted here. Especially not this weekend. Jihoon did not want to deal with the Bae Jinyoung this weekend at all. Yet, his friend had just announced he was coming to visit. Most people would be happy their best friend was visiting, but no Jihoon, because it was never just a “visit” with Jinyoung. 

 

**Baebae** : 

can you make sure to do fun stuff so i dont just sit in ur room 

 

Jihoon let out a long sigh and closed his eyes. Everything. Everything had gone wrong today. 

 

When Jihoon opened his eyes, he was met with Woojin and Daehwi staring directly at him. They both looked at him apologetically, which made Jihoon realize that his eyes were filling up with tears. Fuck. Jihoon quickly wiped his eyes and looked away. No, he was not going to cry twice in one day, and he was definitely not going to let his devil roommate and his sorta friend see his tears. 

 

Woojin and Daehwi took that as their cue to leave, claiming they were hungry and asking if Jihoon wanted them to bring him back something to eat. He rejected their offer, hoping it would make them leave faster. 

 

Once they left, Jihoon climbed into bed. Surprisingly, no tears fell as buried his face in his pillow. After a few minutes, Jihoon unlocked his phone again. 

 

**Jihoon** : 

What do you mean you are coming? I’m too busy and I don’t have time to entertain you. Can’t you just stay at your own school? You better have a really good reason why you are visiting.  

 

**Baebae** : 

well i wanted to see you haha  

**Baebae** : 

but i guess ill be honest  

**Baebae** : 

your mom thought that you werent having a great time and said i should visit 

**Baebae** : 

so your welcome 

**Baebae** : 

and if you have such an issue with it tell her not me 

 

Jihoon took some deep breaths, trying to contain his anger. If it were any other person, right now he would go off on them. But, since it was Jinyoung, his best friend in the entire world, he tried to control himself. It wasn’t unusually for his parents to use Jinyoung as a mood of communication with their son. In fact, his parents talked to Jinyoung more than they did to him. Jihoon used to hate it, but over the years he realized the benefits of their preference for Jinyoung over him. 

 

**Jihoon** : 

Are you really coming?

 

**Baebae** : 

ye

 

**Jihoon** : 

Really, like there is no way I can get you to not come? 

 

**Baebae** : 

yup i already said that

 

**Jihoon** : 

Ok

**Jihoon** : 

But my parents aren’t like paying you or anything? 

 

**Baebae** : 

no i wish tho

**Baebae** : 

but they did give me stuff to give to u but im keeping some of it 

**Baebae** : 

its not stuff ur gonna want anyway haha

 

Jihoon knew that Jinyoung wasn’t trying to be the absolute worst person alive. He just found him difficult sometimes because of how little common decency his friend had for others. He could go through life doing whatever he pleased and never thought about the consequences and feelings of others. Jihoon couldn’t relate. 

 

**Jihoon** : 

So what am I supposed to do now that you are coming? 

 

**Baebae** : 

idk 

**Baebae** : 

spend time with me 

 

**Jihoon** : 

No seriously

 

**Baebae** : 

maybe you could find take me to a party or show me around campus 

**Baebae** : 

whatever you end up doing let me know by tomorrow so i know what to bring 

 

**Jihoon** : 

Or you could just not come 

 

**Baebae** : 

yeah no

 

**Jihoon** : 

I seriously hate you sometimes

 

**Baebae** : 

I LOVE YOU TOO!! <3

  
  
  
  
  
  


Woojin felt bad for Jihoon. Yes, he really, truly, sincerely, from the bottom of his heart, felt bad for Park Jihoon. And he hated it. But, for some reason seeing Jihoon upset made him hurt. Yet, he would never admit that. 

 

“Jihoon’s definitely crazy,” Daehwi stated as he returned to their table after getting more napkins. Woojin didn’t reply because he didn’t want to talk about Jihoon or anything related to him, so he didn’t respond. Still, Daehwi continued talking. “I mean what the fuck even was that? Like one minute he was annoyed at us because we were just joking around with him, then he was suddenly crying.” 

 

Woojin just shrugged at him. It was weird. Jihoon was weird. But, that didn’t mean they should be mean to him. Maybe something else happened during the day which caused him to be so upset. Neither of them knew Jihoon well enough to know what was really wrong. But Woojin knew one thing, this was just going to make Jihoon dislike him more. 

 

“Woojin, are you going to say anything? Jihoon is your roommate, I don’t claim him” 

 

“I don’t know, I think we shouldn’t judge him that hard. We don’t know exactly what happened, so we aren’t in a position to make assumptions about him.” 

 

The glare coming from Daehwi made Woojin regret saying that it sounded too sympathetic. He couldn’t let Daehwi realize his true intentions, so he quickly added to his statement. 

 

“All I’m saying is that he clearly is pissed at us, and I don’t know about you but I’d rather not have my roommate hate me after 2 weeks together.” 

 

Daehwi seemed to understand and agree with what he said, which was a relief to Woojin. But, he didn’t say anything and just continued eating his food silently. 

 

After a few minutes of boring conversation, Woojin decided he had enough of Daehwi and needed to take a break. Or a hit. He made up some excuse that about how he needed to go back to the dorm. Daehwi went along with it but insisted they met in the library in 45 minutes to study for econ. 

 

The whole walk back to the dorm Daehwi talked about his friend, Stormi or something, but Woojin did really listen or care. 

 

Woojin let his mind wander, thinking about how weird the day had been. It was 6:30 and dark. He wished he had his vape with him, but it was in his bag back at the dorm. Since he arrived at college, he had been high almost every day. At home, it had been more of a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday thing. Now it was an everyday thing. Not that there was an issue with it, everyone smoked here, except Daehwi. He began to reflect on why- getting lost in deep thought about expectations and stress of college. 

 

“Woojin, can you believe it! Like what are the chances?” Daehwi was looking at him expecting him to say something. But, having not listened to anything his friend said, Woojin just smiled and nodded back. “Well, you didn’t make a very good first impression.”

 

“Oh. Ok.” 

 

Luckily, they had made their way to the floor, because Woojin wasn’t sure if he could stand listening to Daehwi’s voice anymore. Seriously, he needed to find better friends. 

 

As he approached his door, he heard Jihoon talking to someone, so he respectfully knocked the door to let him know he was back. From the other side of the door he heard “Oh, he’s here. I guess I should stop talking to you.” 

 

When Woojin was fully in the room, he saw Jihoon at his desk working, as if he had never been talking to anyone. Weird. 

 

Woojin walked over and flopped down on his bed, but Jihoon just continued to ignore him. Okay, so was he giving him the silent treatment. Mature. 

 

After vaping for a few minutes, Woojin decides he can’t stand Jihoon’s silence anymore. 

 

“I got you your cereal.” 

 

“I know, I saw.” 

 

That was it. Jihoon didn’t even look over at him. He sighed loudly as he exhaled. This couldn’t continue, Jihoon couldn’t keep ignoring him. 

 

“You know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eat your cereal, I guess I was drunk and didn’t think about it. And I didn’t mean to make fun of you or hurt your feelings. I guess I thought we were just joking. I know I don’t know you that well, but I would really hate it if this made you not talk to me for the rest of the year. You know, because you’re my roommate and we live together.” 

 

Woojin sat up and stared at Jihoon’s back, praying he would get a reply. Jihoon had stopped using his computer and was just sitting there completely still. Jihoon needed to reply. He couldn’t hate Woojin for no reason, it wasn't fair. Woojin didn’t even care about his stupid plan, he just needed a roommate who would tolerate him, maybe occasionally they could chat casually, they didn’t even need to acknowledge each other out of the room. Woojin would be fine with anything other than this. 

 

Woojin’s phone buzzed. 

 

**Lee Daehwi** : 

R u ready to go?????

 

**Woojin** :

no 

 

**Lee Daehwi** : 

How much longer?????

 

**Woojin** : 

Idk 

**Woojin** : 

Can I meet u there later? 

 

**Lee Daehwi** : 

K 

 

Woojin rolled his eyes, he had enough Daehwi for the day. Looking up, Jihoon was also texting someone. He was typing fast, almost angrily. 

 

“Who are you talking to?” 

 

Jihoon immediately put his phone down and glared at Woojin. His expression was nervous and angry. The combination scared Woojin enough to know that maybe he should just leave Jihoon alone for the rest of the night and try again tomorrow. After all, he knew that getting Jihoon to like him wasn’t going to be an easy task, so he might as well wait some more. 

 

“I’m going to study in the library with Daehwi.”

 

Woojin got up and put a textbook in his bag. He made sure to take a longer than normal amount of time to pack his things, just in case Jihoon wanted to say anything. 

 

“Oh, my friend is coming to visit on Friday.”

 

Woojin was confused by this. Was it because of him? Did Jihoon dislike him that much that he had to have his friend visit? Was this Jihoon’s way of telling him to stay out of the dorm for the weekend? Who was even coming to visit? Did Jihoon have “friends”? 

 

“Oh, who?” 

 

“Just my best friend from home.” 

 

Jihoon didn’t seem excited or even like he cared his friend was coming. He actually seemed annoyed. Weird. 

 

“Wait. The @Baejin00 or someone else?” 

 

Jihoon seemed confused by his question. But it’s not like it was hard to guess his friend. @Baejin00 was tagged in almost all of his photos, but very few other people were. 

 

“Umm.. yeah him.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


“So he really just sat there and talked to you for an hour?” 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“And now you’re saying we have to find out who he is because you want to see him again.”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Kang Daniel you are unbelievable.” 

 

When Daniel’s shift had ended he immediately went back to his apartment, actually, it was Seongwoo’s and Jaehwan’s apartment, he just lived in the living room. Once his friends returned from going to classes and actually being students, he immediately told them about his shift. They were not impressed with his story. 

 

“Was that freshman you hooked up with last week at Sungwoon’s party, not enough. I thought you said you were over freshmen.” 

 

“Seongwoo stop making it sound like I’m trying to fuck him. Maybe I just want to get to know him?” 

 

“Yes, because when I just want to meet a friend, I ask everyone I know to stalk and find them on Instagram.”

 

Daniel regretted telling them about Jihoon. He should have known that this is how his friends would react. Although Jihoon was incredibly attractive and completely Daniel’s type, Daniel’s intention was never to just fuck him. But he definitely would. 

 

“The poor boy was probably sad and missed home.” 

 

“Yeah, he didn’t ask to be preyed on by a creepy barista who sleeps on his friend's couch.” 

 

“Guy, stop. You're making it sound like I’m some pedophile. He’s not even that much younger than me, like 3 years,” Daniel replied. He was done listening to them, mainly because they were actually right. “I’m going to game, please don’t bother me.” 

 

“Have fun beating some 14 year olds!” 

 

Jaehwan’s hysterical laughter filled the room from Seongwoo’s comments. Daniel just got up and put his headphones as he walked over to his computer. He was happy they were noise canceling. 

 

Seongwoo and Jaehwan were completely correct, which made the whole situation more frustrating. All of Daniel’s friends still went to college, but, even though he no longer attended, he was still fairly popular. During what would have been his sophomore and junior years, the start of the school year was great. There were so many new faces and exciting parties, however, when everyone else had school work to start, Daniel had no real responsibilities. He always found the new freshmen fun and entertaining, which made the beginning of the year was his favorite. 

 

However, this year as a “senior” he didn’t feel that excited by it. Sure, the first weekend back was fun. But, after that, he found the routine of drinking and attending parties Wednesday through Saturday irritating. He must be getting old because the music was too loud and he would get tired after an hour or two. The only thing that didn’t change was his high alcohol tolerance. 

 

Minhyun’s party, last Friday, had been his breaking point. Daniel was having a fine time and met some pretty freshmen. They talked for most of the party and after went back to her dorm, because Daniel sleeps on a couch. But her roommate was there and suddenly he was involved in a bunch of freshmen girl drama as one of them poured coffee all over the other’s bed. After that night, Daniel proclaimed that he was done with freshman and college parties. He was 21 years old and no longer needed to go to frat parties. He should be a mature adult, go to bars, and find meaningful connections. 

 

Yet, here he was unable to focus on his game because of some random freshman boy who had wandered into his work. Daniel kept thinking about Jihoon. His visit was so unusual that Daniel was sure it could have been anyone and he would still be thinking about it as much. 

 

Daniel had been working at this shop for over two years and no one, not even his friends, had ever stayed to talk to him for over an hour. It was rare for a stranger to speak to him for more than a simple greeting or engage in some short small talk as he made their beverage. Jihoon was unique, one of kind and Daniel wanted to make sure he saw him again. 

 

After playing a few games, he took a break and picked up his phone. He replied to a few texts and scrolled through social media. Then, he found himself on the Instagram explore page typing Jihoon into the search. But, since Jihoon is a fairly popular name and he couldn’t find anything. Daniel began to think of anyone who might know who Jihoon was. But, since he knew very few freshmen and almost nothing about the boy, even what his last name was, the search was hopeless. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Okay, so you guys were right,” Daniel declared as he walked into the kitchen, which was less than 10 feet away from where he had been sitting. “I have given up on the mysterious Jihoon coffee shop boy.”

 

His declaration was met with sarcastic clapping and encouraging remarks from his friends. Daniel just dramatically smiled back. 

 

“So does this mean your done being your fake college student fuck boy self or just done with this kid?” Seongwoo asked as he attempted struggled to get the water to boil on the stove. 

 

Seongwoo’s question surprised Daniel; he wasn’t really sure how to answer it. He didn’t want to continue to be that fuck boy, as Seongwoo described. But, he also didn’t want to move on and really do something with his life, especially since he has no degree. 

 

“Umm... I guess just done with him. Not that there ever was anything with him.”

 

“Good because Minhyun’s having another party!” Jaehwan screamed and began to dance around the kitchen. 

 

“So your gonna come, right?” 

 

Daniel thought about Seongwoo’s question, but he was unsure. If he said yes, he would be right back to where he was a week ago, not that it would be the worst thing in the world. If he said no, he would probably just sit here in the apartment, which would be pathetic and boring. Neither choice seemed extremely appealing. 

 

“Yup, of course! Would I, Kang Daniel, ever not go to a party? No.” 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this over a year ago but never posted it yikes Idk but I kinda want to finish the story. I have another 2ish chapter that I wrote months ago but I want to change them idk. I'll probably update it soon


	3. Chapter 3

Wednesdays were Daniel’s favorite day of the week. He never had work, so he was able to sleep in and game all day. Then, he would get to choreograph for the dance team, the only good thing about college, in his opinion. 

 

Every Wednesday, at 4 pm, Daniel would meet Seongwoo on campus and they would usually get a snack before going to practice. Daniel would get to spend the next three hours working with incredibly talented dancers as he got to creatively express himself through dance. 

 

Back when Daniel actually went to school, he was part of the team, which was where he made most of his best friends including Seongwoo. After dropping out, he was no longer able to dance with them, but, he continued to attend practices. Daniel always knew that school wasn’t for him. He didn’t want to sit in classes all day, he wanted to perform. During high school, he got into dance and performed in multiple styles with different groups. His college dance team was the only part of the institution he enjoyed. Daniel continued to train at his company, however, he didn’t want to be an idol and being a backup dance wouldn’t allow him to be creative. At dance team, he was able to freely express himself. 

 

He started choreographing last year when the old captains had asked Daniel to help with a piece. After that, his input was always considered in making any new choreography. Now Seongwoo was captain, and Daniel was formally given the position of the lead choreographer. So, he got to create dances, and get paid. 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel waited in the lobby area of a building for Seongwoo. It was 4:15, he was late. Daniel was annoyed because Seongwoo almost always followed through on plans. Eventually, he got a text from Seongwoo telling him to meet him at the smoothie bar. The smoothie bar, was, of course, a 10 minute walk from where Daniel was. 

 

At the Smoothie bar, Seongwoo was sitting at a table with 4 students that Daniel had never seen before. Daniel met Seongwoo’s eye when he walked in. He watched as his friend attempted to politely tell the group he had to go, however, 2 of the girls he was sitting with kept talking. Daniel found it amusing, because of how enamored everyone was with stupid friend. Eventually, Seongwoo just got and left, making his way over to Daniel. 

 

“They wouldn’t let me go,” Seongwoo complained. ”Sorry, I forgot to tell you I had to meet with my mentorship group. I’ll get you a smoothie.” 

 

Daniel remembered Seongwoo talking about how it was such an honor that he was chosen to be a mentor. Only the very best acting majors got to be a mentor for the new freshmen. So far, Seongwoo had done nothing with his group except for the mandatory meeting during the first week, so Daniel assumed his professor made him meet with his group again. 

 

Looking over at the group of freshmen, Daniel felt bad for them. Their major was acting and theatre, which is a useless major, and their mentor was Seongwoo. They would be better off not paying thousands of dollars for an idiot like Seongwoo to give them advice he got off google. Those poor students. 

 

The 2 girls who kept talking to Seongwoo started to get up from the table. They were very pretty, however, Daniel could tell from across the room that one girl’s accent was too strong and her voice too shrill to ever make it in the industry. One of the boys looked nice and was talking to the girls as they left. He fit the image of the theatre program- tall, attractive, and well dressed. The other boy did not fit with his peers. He was wearing a black fuzzy quarter zip, had a big puffy jacket with the hood on, and slides with no socks. He looked like a mess, and as Seongwoo would say, was not representing their prestigious acting program. He met Daniels' eyes, but quickly looked away and hurried out of the store.

 

“Here,” Seongwoo said as he handed Daniel his peach and blueberry smoothie with almond milk. 

 

“How are they?” Daniel asked motioning towards the table Seongwoo and his mentees had sat at. 

 

“Fine, I guess,” Seongwoo put on his coat as they left the building. “I don’t think any of them are particularly great.” 

 

“Ok, let’s go,” Daniel opens the door and the make their way to the dance studio. “By the way, how many of the new team members are trained ballet? I was thinking about doing a more technical piece.”

 

 

 

 

 

Compared to Wednesdays, Thursdays were the worst day of the week. Daniel almost always worked a double shift from 6 am to 4 pm. It was miserably long and exhausting. He felt like the hours of making drinks would never end. He eyes constantly watched the artsy metal and wood clock across the room, but, every time he looked barely any time had passed. He was always so bored. But, at least he was making money. 

 

It was 2:30 and Daniel felt like dying. His feet ached and he had run out of menial tasks to complete. The cups were stacked, the fridge stocked, the counter cleaned, and the floors swept. The day was winding down and fewer students came in to buy their overpriced beverages. Jaehwan had left an hour ago after Daniel begged him to visit by bribing him with a free croissant. The only other person working was his boss, a middle aged lady who spent most of her time in the back and had no interest in talking to him. 

 

The cafe was almost empty, with only one couple on a date in the corner and an older man sitting at a table with his laptop. Daniel would do anything for just one customer to come, he just wanted something to do. But no one did, so he decided to clean the latte machines behind the counter for the second time. 

 

“Hi?” 

 

The quiet voice from the other side of the counter shocked Daniel, drawing him out of his trance of boredom. 

 

“Hello. How may I help you?” Daniel replied in his customer service voice as he turned around. When he saw who it was his heart skipped a beat. 

 

“Ah, hi Daniel. I know that when I talked to you here a few days ago I sounded crazy, but, I have a few things to say. But first, I’m going to actually buy a drink because I’m not always a mess who doesn’t have money. And I’m not crazy.”

 

Daniel was very confused. Why was Jihoon here and what did he want to say? As he took Jihoon’s order and made the drink his mind was racing. He kept staring at Jihoon, he must have been visible shook because Jihoon stopped talking and just let Daniel make the drink and stare. Jihoon looked so different. He was in all black and had darkish brownish hair. If it wasn’t his sparkling eyes he wouldn’t have recognized the boy. After Daniel handed him the coffee, Jihoon started to talk.

 

“I know you’re probably confused. I just want to explain myself because I’m scared you think I’m actually insane. But first, did you tell anybody what I talked about?”

 

“Umm no,” Daniel didn’t really know what to say. It was a weird question.

 

Jihoon looked very serious and repeat again, “So, you have told absolutely no one about anything, I said at all?” 

 

“No… To be honest I don’t really remember what you talked about. I was distracted,” Daniel replied embarrassedly. 

 

“Really?” 

 

“Really, I didn’t.”

 

Jihoon smiled and his serious expression faded. “Good that would have been an issue, especially since you know Seongwoo hyung.”

 

 

 

 

 

Talking to Daniel went surprisingly well, almost too well, so Jihoon was still suspicious. But, Daniel was nice so, at least it was awkward. Plus, he didn’t end up actually having to do anything, at least not for now. But, something made him feel like he could trust Daniel. 

 

After spilling his entire life to Daniel, he knew that he had fucked up. He was fully prepared to flee campus. But, after thinking, he realized that Daniel might not know who Jihoon was, so probably wouldn’t be an issue. Compared to everything else that had happened that day, his conversation with Daniel seemed uneventful. He chose to do nothing about it. 

 

Honestly, when Jihoon had seen Daniel with Seongwoo at his mentorship meeting, he was sure that his entire life was over. Daniel probably told Seongwoo and there was no way an idiot like Ong Seongwoo could know those things about Jihoon and not create a crisis. He immediately formulated complicated plans. But, decided to have a friendly confrontation with Daniel, because he would prefer to avoid having others get involved. And, it worked, really well. 

 

In their conversation, Jihoon learned a lot about Daniel, and he really was pretty cool. It turned out that Daniel wasn’t a student, but, he still had many connections to the school, which Jihoon made a mental note about. Other than his nervous personality, Daniel had all the things Jihoon looked for in a friend. 

 

 

 

 

  
  
“Oh good, you’re back! I’m hungry, let’s go!” 

 

Woojin bombarded Jihoon the minute he got back to the dorm. Woojin had been constantly texting him asking when he was coming back because he was hungry and didn’t want to eat alone. It was annoying, but, expected of his roommate. 

 

“Can you just wait like 5 minutes. I have to pee.”

 

“There are bathrooms in the dining hall.” 

 

Jihoon just glared at him and put his bag down. It made Woojin shut up, so Jihoon peacefully walked out of the room to the bathroom down the hall. 

 

Every since their fight two days ago, Woojin had been very nice to him. It made Woojin an almost enjoyable person to be around. Not that Jihoon would admit this because Woojin was still the most tedious person he had ever met. 

 

Woojin was especially excited to meet Jinyoung. Jihoon didn’t understand it, no one should ever be excited to meet Bae Jinyoung. Jihoon had a bad feeling about Jinyoung’s visit like he was going to come and rip everything to shreds. Most of Jihoon still dreaded that Jinyoung was coming, but there was a small part of him that was excited. But, only a very, very small part. 

 

After peeing he returned to the room and he and Woojin went to the dining hall. 

 

It was dinner, but Jihoon wasn’t very hungry, Daniel had given him a pastry. He walked around the buffet lines, but nothing looked appealing. He wondered how the school really expected it’s students to eat this food for every meal every day. It seemed impossible. Jihoon wanted to suggest that they go somewhere else to eat, but Woojin had already put food on his plate. Jihoon reluctantly went over and got chicken fingers, again. 

 

The dining hall was very crowded. Jihoon looked around and saw many faces he recognized, some people even waved or smiled at him. It was times like this where Jihoon felt he made the right choice in coming here. He smiled back and followed Woojin until they found an empty table. 

 

“Jihoon, I know I already told you but I am so excited for Jinyoung to come. I can’t wait”

 

“I know, you’ve said that like a million times,” Jihoon mumbled. He was kind of over this conversation because every since they were back on real speaking terms, it was all Woojin had talked about. 

 

“It’s just I want to know the person who became best friends with Park Jihoon. Like, how did he do that?” Woojin said while chewing his food. Gross. “You still don’t seem that excited, why?”

 

Jihoon rolled his eyes at the question. “Because you keep making it a big deal. He’s my friend, he’s not special.”

 

“Yeah, but if Youngmin or Donghyun came to visit me I would be so excited.” 

 

Jihoon didn’t really know what to say. He just didn’t want to see Jinyoung, especially not after being here for such a short time. He went to college to be a student. He didn’t come for Jinyoung to keep bringing everything from home to him every few weeks. He was fine here. He was safe here. And he was almost happy here. There was no reason for Bae Jinyoung to be visiting and if there was Jihoon didn’t want to be involved. 

 

“I guess, I just don’t miss him. We’ve been here less than three weeks,” Jihoon responded truthfully.

 

Woojin chewed his food thinking about Jihoon’s comment. Jihoon felt awkward. He was nervous Woojin was judging him, and Woojin had no right to judge him. 

 

“So you don’t miss home, your family, or friends?” 

 

“No. I came here to leave home. I didn’t come here to miss it,” Jihoon said calmly dipping his chicken into his ketchup. “Do you?” 

 

“I don’t know, a little. I miss my family, but I guess you’re right, I haven’t been here long enough to truly feel sad and miss them. And I did come here to get away so…” 

 

Woojin’s voice trailed off and the mood at the table became depressing. Jihoon got up to refill his drink attempting to clear the negative atmosphere. He felt bad because his comments had depressed Woojin. But, all Jihoon was trying to do was switch the topic as quickly as possible.  

 

“So what are you going to do tomorrow?” Woojin asked when Jihoon returned to the table. 

 

“Oh, actually I there’s this guy I know, and his friend is having a party. And he said we could come if I bring girls,” Jihoon said very quickly, hoping Woojin wouldn’t ask too many questions. 

 

“Ok, but who? You know like no upperclassmen.”

 

“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but, it was the guy from the coffee shop a few days ago,” Jihoon mumbled as he put his head down. Woojin was definitely judging, fuck him. 

 

“No! That is not what happened! How? You’re not serious,” Woojin said too loudly. Rude. He drew people at other tables attention to their conversation. 

 

“So, I happened to be there and he was too. So, I apologize to him because I’m not a dick and I didn’t want him to think I was crazy. Then we talked because he knew Seongwoo hyung. I mentioned that my friend was coming and wanted to go to a party and he was like ‘hey, I know, come to my friends’ and I didn’t want to be rude, plus it was super convenient, so I agreed,” Jihoon explained as quickly as he could. 

 

“That’s so sketchy,” Woojin laughed. “I’m not sure if he just wanted to be polite, is an overly friendly and nice person, or was hitting on you. Probably the third since he’s friends with Seongwoo hyung.” 

 

“Whatever. I don’t care. We are going.” 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, Woojin felt like Jihoon lived a double life. There were so many sides of him and the situations he got into were so strange that Wooin couldn’t comprehend how they continued to happen to his roommate. Some days, Jihoon was so reserved and on edge, but others he was super talkative and friendly to everyone. 

 

Yesterday was one of the good days. Jihoon had been overall nice and it genuinely seemed like they were friends. After dinner, they smoked together and bonded over their previous experience with dance. Jihoon retold the whole story about the coffee shop boy. Woojin thought It was crazy how a boy who half the time looked like he wanted to kill everyone could talk so easily talk to this complete stranger. 

 

Today was one of Jihoon’s bad days. Woojin expected it to happen, Jinyoung was coming. All Woojin really knew about Jinyoung and Jihoon was they had been best friends since middle school and Jihoon did not want him to come. Woojin still didn’t understand it, no matter how much prying he did. 

 

He woke up to Jihoon obnoxiously cleaning the room. Then he was yelled at about messy the room. Then they got into a fight because Jihoon blamed it all on Woojin, which was completely untrue, Jihoon was probably messier than him. This made Jihoon run late for his class. So, since then Woojin had received over 100 angry texts from Jihoon all about how much he hates him and what he needs to do before Jinyoung comes. Woojin was so close to blocking him, but, acknowledging that this would just make Jihoon angrier, he continues to conform with Jihoon’s obnoxious demands. 

 

“Daehwi look at this, he just sent another,” Woojin whispered during their class. 

 

“He needs to chill. He’s acting like an unstable girl on her period whose mom’s coming to visit,” Daehwi sympathized. 

 

“I feel like this is harassment.”

 

“You’re right it definitely is.” 

 

Woojin put his head down on the desk. His phone chimed again, “Ugh, I just want him to fucking stop!”

 

 

 

 

After class, he went to the library with Guanlin, and “forgot” his phone in the dorm. He needed to get away from Jihoon’s never-ending complaints. Woojin didn’t understand that the boy tormenting him now, was the same one from last night. Woojin tried to explain the situation to Guanlin, but he didn’t really feel bad for Woojin. Guanlin sided with Jihoon, expressing that his roommate was probably stressed. Woojin didn’t agree. Jihoon was just the worst.

 

After completing his essay, Woojin decided to go take a nap. He felt exhausted from all the extra pressure from Jihoon’s constant attacks and wanted to rest before going out later that night. He said goodbye to Guanlin and went back to the dorm, where he fell asleep immediately. 

 

 

 

 

 

Woojin woke up expecting Jihoon to be there moving shit again. But he wasn’t. 

 

“Umm, sorry. Are you Woojin?” 

 

There was another boy standing across the room. He was tall with dark hair and a very small face. He recognized him immediately. It was the @Baejin00. 

 

“Yeah, sorry I was sleeping,” Woojin replied as he got out of his bed, trying to make himself presentable. “You’re the Bae Jinyoung?”

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

Woojin noticed that Jinyoung had an unreasonable amount of luggage for 2 days. There were at least 3 suitcases and he had 2 bags. All of the luggage and his clothes were designer, Jinyoung looked extremely put together. It was hard to believe that this was Jihoon’s best friend. Jinyoung looked the type of person to only wear clothes once and throw them out, while Jihoon would usually just wear whatever clothes were on the pile next to his bed. But, that pile had been put away for the weekend. 

 

“Should I just put my stuff down here?” Jinyoung asked. Woojin realized he had just been looking at him but not saying anything. 

 

“Yeah, sure. Anywhere is fine. Sorry, I didn’t realize you were coming so soon.” 

 

Woojin watched Jinyoung put his bags down when some else entered the room. The other man was a few years older and dressed perfectly as well. The man didn’t seem to notice Woojin and watched right over to Jinyoung. Woojin watched as the man whispered something to him, weird. Jinyoung gave him a weird look and turned back to Woojin. 

 

“Sorry, this is my friend Jisung hyung. He just brought me here,” Jinyoung said as Jisung politely greeted at him. 

 

“Nice to meet you,” Woojin answered. 

 

“Well, I better go. Nice to meet you Woojin. Bye Jinyoung!” Jisung said and quickly left the room. 

 

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as they both watched Jisung leave. Neither of them knew what to say or talk about. Normally, Woojin considered himself a friendly and social guy. However, there was something about Jinyoung’s presences that intimidated him, especially after watching that other guy come and go. 

 

“So, have you seen Jihoon yet?” Woojin asked. 

 

“No.” 

 

“Oh.”

 

The conversation ended. Woojin scrambled to find something to talk about. But, he knew almost nothing about Jinyoung since Jihoon refused to tell him anything. Jinyoung looked unbothered by the silence and was organizing his belongings. Woojin felt like Jinyoung was trying to avoid him. 

 

Woojin felt a buzz next to him and picked up his phone. He had 20 unread messages from Jihoon. He scrolled through them. Most of them were just him screaming about how Jinyoung was coming early, and how Woojin wasn’t replying. 

 

**Woojin** : 

He’s here 

 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Fuck

**Park Jihoon** : 

Ill be theere soon

**Park Jihoon:**

Dont fuck thsi up

**Park Jihoon** : 

Plaese

 

**Woojin** : 

What do I do? 

 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Talk to him 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Hes not going to talk uless you takl to him

**Park Jihoon** : 

Ask questions idk be frindly 

 

**Woojin** : 

About what? 

 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Idk 

**Park Jihoon** :

Ask about wht he wanst to do

**Park Jihoon** : 

Anythign he wants to see

 

**Woojin** : 

Ok thanks

 

“So, are you excited to be here at this amazing college?” Woojin asked hoping Jinyoung would respond to his sarcastic comment and keep the conversation going. 

 

“Yeah,” Jinyoung replied. 

 

Woojin was frustrated, Jihoon was right, the boy was not going to talk. Still, he tried again. 

 

“Is there anything you want to do here? You know for fun.”

 

Jinyoung hesitated before responding, “I guess I just want to have fun. You know, enjoy my time here.” 

 

Fuck, this was like talking to a wall. Was Jinyoung really shy or did he hate Woojin? He needed Jihoon’s help again. 

 

**Woojin** :

I need something else to talk about 

**Woojin** : 

This is so difficult 

 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Idk idk 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Ask abot the party 

**Park Jihoon** : 

Just stall im on the stairs at teh dorm

 

**Woojin** : 

K


	4. Chapter 4

This was all Jinyoung’s fault, of course, because he announced he was coming an hour early. Jihoon had left his group meeting as soon as he could and ran here, but he was unable to make it before Jinyoung arrived. The texts he received from Woojin were exactly what  Jihoon expected, Jinyoung had been difficult, rude, and extremely judgemental. Jihoon had to get back to the room. 

 

Jihoon pushed open the door without thinking. He was out of breath, with sweat gathering on his forehead. He was completely frazzled and had no time to think about how he should be acting. 

 

“Jinyoung!”

 

The words were out of his mouth before he could process that he said them. Jinyoung turned around, but before he could say anything, Jihoon hugged him. It was weird. Jihoon was not one to initiate physical contact with anyone, even Jinyoung, so his friend was confused and it resulted in a very awkward side hug. 

 

“Hey, Jihoon,” Jinyoung said as he stepped away. 

 

“Sorry, I wasn’t ready for you to come so early,” Jihoon didn’t really know was to say. He could also feel Woojin just staring at them, which wasn’t helping. “I was just meeting a group for a project.”

 

“It’s fine, I met Woojin,” Jinyoung motioned towards his roommate who was sitting on his bed. Woojin just smiled back and then picked up his phone. 

 

The room became silent again, Jihoon hated it. He hated everything. Nothing was going how he wanted it to. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. In his head he repeats this will be fun, this will be fun, everything will turn out ok. 

 

“What are you wearing?” Jinyoung asked as he sat down at Jihoon’s desk. 

 

“Clothes,” Jihoon looked down at his outfit and knew Jinyoung wouldn’t approve. He meant to change before his friend arrived, but didn’t end up having time. “Shut up, you know I have no fashion sense.” 

 

He heard Woojin laugh, “It’s better than how he normally dresses. He usually has a pile next to his bed that he just picks random clothes out of.” 

 

“Haha, I bet. In high school, I was always the one making him look half presentable.” 

 

Normally, Jihoon would have wanted to murder both of them for exposing and making fun of him. But, he was actually fine with it as long as they were acting friendly towards each other. 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel’s friends' party was actually pretty good. Jihoon didn’t seem like a very extraverted person, however, he really enjoyed parties. There was something about the atmosphere at them that made him feel free and happy. He didn’t even regret the embarrassing things he did or how he would eventually throw up. Jihoon believed everything about them was completely worth it. 

 

This party, in particular, was very fun. There were few people he recognized, which made him even more carefree than usual. Jihoon wasn’t a very heavy drinker, mainly because of his low alcohol tolerance, but tonight he was determined to push that limit. He was already buzzed from their pregame before they came, so for the beginning of the party, he decided to socialize more. Jihoon knew that if he kept drinking, his night would be over in about an hour. 

 

Luckily, Woojin and Jinyoung were getting along fine, which made his whole weekend easier. Jinyoung was doing a good job of acting like he missed Jihoon, which made his visit more realistic. Daehwi and Jinyoung became friends almost immediately, which was good because they left Jihoon alone, but also scared him because he couldn’t trust what they would do together. He had already walked around the house, but couldn’t find who he was looking for, Daniel. 

 

“So, where’s this coffee shop boy? I want to see him, you know judge his intentions,” Woojin asked as they walked into the next room. 

 

“I don’t know?” Since they arrived here, Woojin had been clinging to him. It was annoying. “It’s not like I’m even trying to find him.” 

 

Lies. Jihoon definitely was looking, but the room was too crowded and dark. 

 

“Jihoonie and Woojinie!” a very drunk Seongwoo yell in their ears. He swung his arm over Jihoon, “I’m so happy to see my favorite dongsaengs!” 

 

Jihoon attempted to free himself from Seongwoo’s grasp. He did not want to deal with Seongwoo’s drunk ass. “Hi, hyung.” 

 

“Oh my god, Jihoon, when Daniel told me you were coming I was so happy! I never knew you were fun! Usually, you just sit there and don’t talk, I couldn’t fucking believe it!” Seongwoo rambled, now holding onto Woojin. 

 

“Daniel hyung?” Woojin repeated with a puzzled expression. 

 

“Yeah, Danielieeee!” Seongwoo yelled and burst into laughter. 

 

“You know Daniel hyung?” Woojin turned to face Jihoon. Jihoon watched Woojin’s face went through a million expressions. It only took Woojin a moment to figure it out. “Coffee shop boy. That’s Daniel hyung, right?” 

 

Jihoon couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t believe his luck, Daniel didn’t even go to this school, how could he know Woojin. His head spun and he felt dizzy. Daniel at the coffee shop had been a little secret part of his life that he kept semi-private. Now, Woojin had come and wrecked it, as he did with everything.  

 

“Yeah.” 

 

Woojin just stared at him, unable to respond as he processed the situation. Jihoon didn’t know what to do either. Sure, he may have purposely not revealed his name, but, Jihoon had never considered that maybe Woojin knew Daniel. So, it wasn’t completely intentional that he never informed his roommate. 

 

“Oh,” was all Woojin said. 

 

“How do you know him?” Jihoon asked innocently, trying to repair the conversation. 

 

“Dance team,” Woojin nodded. “He choreographs for us.” 

 

“Oh, cool,” Jihoon mumbled. Now that Woojin mentioned it, Daniel had actually talked about how he danced and choreographed for a team. Jihoon felt stupid for not putting the two together. 

 

“Hahaha! You did know?” Seongwoo unnecessarily said out loud, laughing at their misery. Jihoon had forgotten the other boy was listening to them and now wanted to punch him in the face. “Ohh, JIhoon. There’s this guy I want you to meet, Ha Sungwoon, he’s one of my acting friends. Come!” 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel had barely seen Jihoon the whole night. Not that he was looking for Jihoon. Daniel just believed it was nice to at least say hi to the person who invites you to a party. For proper etiquette reasons of course. 

 

Daniel hadn’t been having a terrible time, but every time he saw the boy, he was waiting for Jihoon to come over. At least to thank him for the invite, or maybe introduce the friend who was visiting. At this point, Daniel was beginning to think of Jihoon’s behavior as rude and was regretting inviting him. 

 

The party was large, but, Daniel couldn’t help to watch Jihoon everytime they were in the same vicinity. He wasn’t purposely staring, Jihoon was just in his sight line. But, Jihoon never looked back. From observing, it seemed that Jihoon was having a really good time and was very drunk. 

 

A few times Daniel attempted to go over and talk to him, but he was always with someone else. He spent most of his night with that boy he recognized from the dance team, Park Jinwoo or something. Jihoon must have been more popular than he realized because he was usually surrounded with a rather large group of what Daniel assumed were his freshmen friends. Even Seongwoo had spent a long time with Jihoon. Daniel had watched with anger as Seongwoo paraded around with Jihoon, introducing him to many of their friends, and then danced together for a while. It was infuriating. 

 

“Dude, stop glaring. He’s definitely noticed and now probably thinks you’re creepy,” Jaehwan comments as he stands next to him. 

 

Daniel takes a long drink of his beer. “Fuck off Jaehwan.” 

 

“I’m just trying to help,” Jaehwan shots back. “I’m being helpful by reminding you not to stare at him like you want to simultaneously fuck him and kill him.” 

 

“I’m not.” 

 

“Yes, you definitely are,’ Jaehwan replies. 

 

Daniel’s fury grew. At this point, it was like Jihoon was avoiding him, and Jaehwan’s comments were not helping. He crushed his newly finished beer and walked away to get something else without saying anything. 

 

 

 

 

 

When Daniel returned, Jaehwan was talking to Sungwoon. Daniel casually listened in on their conversation occasionally chiming in, but, his attention was focused elsewhere. He was focused on Jihoon, who was now dancing even closer than before with Seongwoo. Fuck him, what kind of best friend does that. 

 

“What do you think Daniel?” Sungwoon asked noticing Daniel’s lack of attention. 

 

“Sorry, what?” Daniel wasn’t even embarrassed he had been caught not listening. He didn’t even really want to be at the party anymore. “I wasn’t listening.” 

 

“We could tell,” Jaehwan deadpanned and burst into laughter. 

 

“Niel, you don’t seem like yourself tonight. Why?” Sungwoon seemed genuinely concerned for him, even though they weren’t super close. 

 

“No, I’m fine,” Daniel didn’t want to get Sungwoon involved in his issues. “Just tired.” 

 

Jaehwan shrieked with laughter, “No, no! That’s such a lie! You wanted Jihoon, but he’s completely ignored you!” 

 

“Dick,” Daniel turned to leave, he was tired of this party and his shit friends. 

 

Sungwoon grabbed his arm as he walked away, “Wait, Niel!” 

 

Daniel tried to ignore him and keep walking, but the boy was persistent and kept following. After being followed through two rooms with Sungwoon yelling his name after him, Daniel gave up, “What?” 

 

“Sorry, but who is Jihoon and how do you know him?” 

 

Daniel couldn’t comprehend what Sungwoon had said. He thought his friend would be sympathetic and nice, not just berate him with more questions about a boy who he no longer wanted anything to do with. Park Jihoon was no one. So, Daniel walked away and got another beer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel had been at this party for far too long for a person who was having a miserable time. He wasn’t one to just sit around and observe or talk, he was usually a center of attention. But, for the past hour, he had refused to fraternize with anyone except his friends. Everyone knew something was bothering him, but, none of them would speak up. So, while Daniel wasted his time at the party, he drank as much as he could. 

 

It was working, he felt numb to his inner disappointment. He started to feel more positive and like the night hadn’t been such a miserable waste of his time. But, the party started to slow down, so his new attitude didn’t matter much. 

 

Daniel left where most of his friends had been to look for Seongwoo. Seongwoo had spent most of the party with other people, like Jihoon. But, Daniel didn’t care about that anymore. It wasn’t hard to find Seongwoo, he was in the center of a large crowd dancing. Daniel joined in with the outside of the group, attempting to reach Seongwoo. 

 

“Danieeeeeelll hyunggg!” 

 

Daniel recognized the voice but ignored it. He kept moving toward Seongwoo. 

 

“Daniiieeeellieeeee hyung! Hyung! Daaannieeel hyung!” He pulled his arm over Daniel’s shoulder. 

 

Daniel turned towards the boy. Park Jihoon looked wrecked. He was no longer the cute boy Daniel met in the coffee shop, the boy in front of him was dark, sweaty, and very, very drunk. He admits it was kind of hot. But, that didn’t matter, Jihoon was nothing to him. Daniel smiled, “Oh. Hi, Jihoon.” 

 

“Nieeeelllieee hyung, I’ve been looking for you!” 

 

Daniel smiled and nodded back. It was a lie. 

 

“Wherre are you?” Jihoon’s hand firmly gripped Daniel’s arm, keeping him upright. 

 

“I’m here at the party, like you are,” Daniel didn’t know what to say. Jihoon was being completely nonsensical, he was too far gone. He wanted to see Jihoon, just not like this.

 

“Me too! This is sooo fun!” Jihoon attempted to jump but fell further onto Daniel. “Isn’t this so fun Danielliiieee hyung?”

 

One of Jihoon’s friends came up from behind him, saving Daniel from the situation. “Jihoon, come help.” 

 

Jihoon pulled himself off of Daniel. “Jinyoungiieee, this is Daniel hyung! This is his party! Danielieeee hyung, this my beeesssstttteeesssstttt friend in the ennntttiiirrree world!”

 

So, this must be the friend that was visiting Jihoon. He was very attractive. Daniel smiled at Jinyoung, who smiled back, clearly annoyed with his best friend’s behavior. 

 

“Jihoon, come on,” Jinyoung said as he grabbed Jihoon’s hand and led Jihoon away as he continued to babble. 

 

Daniel watched them leave the room. He had waited all night for that moment, but it had been terrible and he had barely said 5 words. This whole night had been a waste. 

 

 

 

 

 

Woojin hadn’t been able to sleep at all. He just stared at the ceiling, feeling miserable. The moments from last night replayed constantly in his head. It was torture. 

 

It had turned out that Jinyoung was actually pretty cool. They got along well and Daehwi really liked Jinyoung. Their evening had been fine. Pregaming was fun. It had seemed like their night was going to be enjoyable. 

 

The start of the party was fun. Actually, most of the party was fun. There were many amusing people and he spent most of his time dancing with his friends. Woojin had a great time for 90% of the night. 

 

It was the first time he had actually partied with Jihoon. Usually, Jihoon would pregame and go with them, but, once they would arrive at the party they would never see each other again. Woojin had never experienced fun, drunk, and crazy Jihoon before. It almost seemed like Jihoon had tried to hide this side of him from Woojin, which was a bit insulting. But, regardless, it was nice to see this side of Jihoon. For once his roommate had all his guards done and was able to truly relax and have fun. 

 

They had spent most of the party together, especially since Daehwi and Jinyoung stuck together, ditching Jihoon, Woojin, and their other friends. Woojin began to feel like he understood Jihoon a little more, he just needed to be pushed to relax. Still, there were many sides of his roommate that Woojin could not understand. 

 

Woojin remembered how shocked he was when it was revealed that Daniel had invited them to the party. It was one of those crazy small world situations that there was no explanation for. He was also insulted that Jihoon hadn’t told him since he was the only one out of the loop. It turned out that, Jihoon was surprisingly close with many of the hyungs Woojin knew from dance. He felt a little jealous as he watched Jihoon dance and get dragged around the party by his dance captain Seongwoo. 

 

But, it had been the end of the party that replayed over and over again in Woojin’s mind. He had been going back to find Daehwi, getting ready to leave. He turned the corner into the hallway and saw them. Jihoon and Jinyoung. Their lips were on each other. Jinyoung had him pinned to the wall, Jihoon was securely holding onto him. Woojin felt like he was going to throw up. He quickly walked past, desperately trying to find Daehwi. 

 

His night only got worse from there. 

 

The walk back to their dorm took forever and Woojin was uncomfortable for every minute of it. He was anxious and wanted to be as far away from Jihoon as possible. He should have known it was stupid for thinking that Jihoon would like him. He should have known Jihoon and Jinyoung were a thing. Everything about their strange interactions with each other made sense, they were definitely dating, which made Woojin an idiot for even thinking he would have a chance of being anything more than Jihoon's roommate. 

 

Jihoon made the night even worse by being incapable of walking back regularly. He was unable to stand up on his own and threw up consistently every few minutes. His vomiting continued once they returned to their room. All Woojin wanted to do was fall asleep, yet, here he was watching a boy he had very complicated feelings about lean over a metal pot and cry about Saltines. 

 

This continued for about an hour before Jihoon passed out, leaving Woojin and Jinyoung to clean up the mess. They cleaned in silence, which would have been awkward if they were not so tired. They finished at 3:30 am, however, once he laid down, Woojin was unable to fall asleep. 

 

Now, it was 7 am, Woojin had about 2 hours of very poor quality sleep. The longer he stayed in his bed, he felt more and more suffocated. His mind was clouded, he didn’t know what to feel. He needed to smoke, so, he left the room. 

 

 

 

 

 

Woojin returned to the room feeling much better. He felt like himself. He noticed that Jinyoung wasn’t in the room anymore, Woojin assumed he must be taking a shower. He flopped down on his bed and began to look through his phone. 

 

“Hey?” 

 

Jihoon’s very raspy voice whisper from across the room. Woojin looked over and saw Jihoon sitting up looking at him with a serious expression. “Oh, hi.” 

 

“What happened last night? Did I do anything?” Jihoon said sounding very concerned. 

 

“Umm…” Woojin didn’t know what he should say. Should he mention Jinyoung or just be vague? “Well we went to Daniel hyung’s party and you got really drunk and threw up a lot. Yeah, that was it. It was fun though, except for the end part.” 

 

“Oh, good. I was just worried I did something to you or someone because I woke up a while ago and no one was here.” 

 

Woojin didn’t know how to reply. It wasn’t that Jihoon had done nothing, he just wasn’t sure if it needed to be addressed at that moment. 

 

“Where is Jinyoung?” Jihoon asked. 

 

“I’m not sure,” Woojin assumed that Jihoon would know.

 

“He’s been gone for a long time. I wonder where he went, I wanted to talk to him.” 

 

“Oh,” was all Woojin said. He knew this was his opportunity. As long as Jinyoung didn’t walk in in the next minute, he should ask. It would seem natural like he just came up in conversation. It was now or never, so he did. Woojin asked, “I didn’t realize you and Jinyoung were together, it makes sense though.” 

 

“What!” Jihoon looked startled. “We’re not. Not at all. What made you think that?” 

 

“You don’t remember?” Woojin even more confused by Jihoon’s vehement denial. “Well, you guys kinda hooked up, so I guess I assumed you were.” 

 

Woojin felt so uncomfortable, this was not how he envisioned the conversation going. 

 

“What do you mean ‘hooking up’?” 

 

“Well you kinda made out a lot at the party, then you kinda threw up and stuff. But, you kept trying to do stuff but, failing. Honestly, it was funny to watch.” 

 

“Fuck,” Jihoon looked relieved. “I thought it was serious. We were just drunk, there were no feelings. Just friends. Hooking up between friends means nothing unless it’s real sex.”

 

Woojin was shocked, this wasn’t the Jihoon who he thought he knew. He really didn't expect Jihoon to act like this was such a casual thing, it made him wonder if maybe Jihoon and Jinyoung were a thing at some point. Jihoon must have sensed his confusion because he continued, “I’m guessing your friends don’t do this?” 

 

“No, not really.” 

 

“It’s not that weird if you think about it,” Jihoon explained, clearly trying to justify his position. “It’s just like ‘hey we’re at this party not in a sober mid-state and bored’ ‘Ya, I find you mildly attractive in a way that would never result in any romantic feelings’ ‘me too’ and then you hook up. It’s not a big deal, especially not with Jinyoung. It’s not like anything more would happen.”

 

“Oh, I guess,” Woojin understood what Jihoon was saying. It was different, but, really not that strange or unheard of. 

 

“If it makes any difference, it’s not just Jinyoung, I'd do it with any friend,” Jihoon shrugged. 

 

“Really, any of your friends and it wouldn’t bother you at all?” Woojin started to feel skeptical of his roommate like it was a big excuse to cover up what he did last night. 

 

“Well, I wouldn’t want an STD or something, so maybe not everyone,” Jihoon looked at Woojin and smiled. “And since you’re so interested, yes, I would suck your dick too.” 

 

Woojin watched in shock as Jihoon got up and walked over to the dresser to find some new, non-throw up clothes. He couldn’t believe his roommate had really just said that. Besides the whole sucking his dick thing, Jihoon had just considered Woojin his friend. It was official, they were friends, and Woojin had never been so happy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes i have more of this written i just wrote stuff that then was way too close to stuff that actually happened in my life and i was like nope don't want to call myself out like that. so ya i gotta change stuff


End file.
